Preparing for the Trail

Preparing to hike the PCT has been at least a part-time job over the past few months.  Thankfully, I'm a second-semester business school student, and what I've got is time.  Right now, I'm mainly focusing on two areas:
1.  Food prep
2.  Learning basic navigation skills (not my forte). 

Food
For food prep, I'm spending a lot of time dehydrating foods, so I can rehydrate them on the trail and have delicious produce straight from Reading Terminal Market. 

Step 1: Buy lots of $1 bags at Reading Terminal Market.  How to get them home on your bike?  The Porter 46 of course (thanks, Amy!!)

 Step 2: Cut up everything and cram as much as possible onto the dehydrator (thanks, Emily and Ginny!).  I usually do this while sitting on my floor, re-watching episodes of Friday Night Lights.  It's a fun ritual. 

Step 3: 6 - 12 hours later, you've got tiny, hard little nuggets where your veggies used to be.  Alright!














 Navigation

The other main challenge is learning how to read the maps and figuring out what to do if (when) I get lost.  There are a ton of gadgets out there that can help with this.  GPS?  Smartphone?  Compass?  SPOT tracker?  I got overwhelmed and didn't know where to start.  Fortunately, Chris knows I get lost in the sauce easily and was here to help.  Two hours later, I know how to locate myself and points on the map.  Next step, actually getting from A-->B.  I'm doing a weekend trip on the Appalachian Trail next weekend to practice exactly that.